The Underestimated Contributions of Women in Aviation History

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To commemorate the IWD, the International Women's Day, Skycop decided to look into the history of women in aviation.

“It’s a boys’ club” might cross your mind when you think of aviation. Probably an image of a charming pilot with a gorgeous stewardess on his arm pops into your head from the thousands of ads, movies and stories you’ve seen before. But the times have changed and the gender role biases have been busted years ago – women can do anything that men can. So why is it so hard to acknowledge women who fought their way to work in aviation?

From the very first steps of aviation, women were always there. From Katherine Wright, who helped her brothers change the history of aviation by finding them teachers, funding their work and supporting throughout their journey, to Raymonde de Laroche, who became the world's first licensed female pilot on March 8, 1910, to Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932. And while the latter one is thought to be one of the most loved figures of aviation history, many women stay forgotten.

Aviation was never easy for women. In the late 1920s flying was considered dangerous, so many aircraft manufacturers hired women as sales representatives and flight demonstrators. Why? Well, their reasoning was that if a woman could fly an airplane, it really could not be that difficult or dangerous. Later women were thought to be worse pilots and people were afraid to fly planes, piloted by females. The public image of a woman was focused on being a mother, so women were seen as perfect for a stewardess job that, at the time, was mostly focused on being pretty, young and pleasant – just like a housewife. Times changed and with that the perception of women who, with the help of the feminist movement, showed to the world that they can be as good at male dominated fields, as the men themselves. But even though the stereotypes were shaken years ago, women still have a difficult time in the aviation industry.

Apart of flight attendants, women still make a significally smaller part of employees in all other fields of aviation – from higher management, to pilots, to engineers. The International Air Transport Association shared, that only 3 percent of CEOs in aviation are women, compared to 12 percent in other industries. According toInternational Society of Women Airline Pilots data, published on 20thof February, 2019, only 5.59% corporate pilots are women. And while, as reported by the FAA's Aeronautical Center, in 2017 there were over 670k non-pilot aviation related employees, only 29% of them were women. But if we exclude flight attendant profession, this number drops to a shocking 4%. Why are the stats so low?

Well, it all starts with gender norms. While boys are encouraged to play with cars, planes and robots, girls are thought to show more interest in dolls, fluffy animals and paying house. Most of gender targeted toys focus on beauty and care for girls and intelligence and strength for boys. Both at home and in school girls are not encouraged to focus on logic or technology heavy engineering specialties and that’s the first obstacle that needs to be overcome. Parents and teachers should provide options for girls to choose from that include both soft skill and science focused specialties and encourage their choice. The more girls show interest in scientific and technical specialties, the more women will come to work in the aviation field.

Another obstacle that is still a looming dark cloud above professional women’s heads is the public perception. Even though so much has already been done, we’re not yet at a stage where women are seen as equal in the aviation field. On June 2018, during a conference following an IATA meeting, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said a woman couldn’t do his job. The CEO said, that of course it has to be led by a man, because it is a very challenging position and was met with groans of disapproval. Later he tried to justify his comment, saying he was only taking about one man’s position, but the damage was already done. Remarks like that show the attitude of higher management towards women – they are just not enough.

And lastly, sexism in management is still an issue. The survey, conducted in early 2018 by LeanIn.Org, found that almost half of male managers are uncomfortable participating in a common work activity with a woman, such as mentoring, working alone, or socializing together and almost 30% of male managers are uncomfortable working alone with a woman. What does that mean? Well, now it’s even harder for women to gain needed experience and mentorship that would help them in their career paths.

Women still have a hard time making their careers in aviation, but we can already see a positive trend. Aviation companies create more and more programs to attract women to work in positions that years ago were thought to be fitting for men only. It is great to see that aviation has finally realized that intellectual value is independent of gender.